Meet Trump's Secretary for Energy Rick Perry

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Rick Perry as his Secretary of Energy.

The former Texas governor previously unsuccessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016, and currently sits on the board of directors of Energy Transfer Partners, which owns and operates one of the largest energy asset portfolios in the United States.

Here's what else you need to know about Mr Perry:

He was previously a Democrat

Mr Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1984, before switching parties in 1989. He went on to challenge Jim Hightower, the incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner. Karl Rove, who later would serve as the senior adviser and deputy chief of staff during the George W. Bush administration, was Perry’s campaign manager.

He wanted to eliminate the agency of energy

His run for president in 2012 is marked as being disastrous due to numerous public stumbles surrounding his policies.

During a primary debate, he vowed to eliminate three federal agencies, but could not recall the name of one in particular.

It just so happened to be the Energy Department - upon remembering, he uttered the immortal words: "Oops".

It's not clear whether he still wants to scrap the department, but it's important to note that the Energy Department does more than deal with energy. 40% of its budget is dedicated to designing, maintaining, and testing the US nuclear weapons arsenal.

He previously called the established science of human-caused climate change a “contrived, phony mess"